Centrifuges are used to separate components of collected samples of biological and other materials. The samples are typically placed in tubes or other containers configured to be received in a centrifuge rotor for rapid rotation in the centrifuge. One type of centrifuge rotor includes swinging buckets pivotally coupled to a rotor body to permit the longitudinal axes of sample tubes or containers carried on the buckets to rotate from a generally vertical orientation to a generally horizontal orientation as the rotor spins during centrifugation. To balance the dynamic forces experienced during centrifugation, swing bucket rotors are typically designed to support the swing buckets in a generally symmetric arrangement around the rotational axis.
One configuration of a swing bucket centrifuge rotor supports two swing buckets on diametrically opposite sides of the rotational axis of the rotor. Swing bucket rotors of this configuration are commonly referred to as “H-rotors” due to the generally H shape of the rotor body formed by the diametrically opposed spaces for receiving the swing buckets. Exemplary H-rotors include the IEC TWO-PLACE ROTOR for the CENTRA-CL5 CENTRIFUGE, both commercially available from Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. of Waltham, Mass.
Because centrifuge rotors are rotated at very high speeds during centrifugation, the rotor bodies must be able to withstand the dynamic stresses and forces generated by the rapid rotation of the swing buckets about a central rotational axis. A need therefore exists for improved swing bucket rotors, such as H-rotors, that overcome these and other drawbacks of conventional centrifuge rotors.